wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: West Bank: No water for the neighbours

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World Council of Churches - Feature

Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 03/12/2009 16:37:13

>NO WATER FOR THE NEIGHBOURS
>By Miranda and Paul (*)

Free high resolution photo available, see below

Rows of neat suburban houses stand on the parched, barren hillside. A  water tower looms over them, irrigating lush greenery in the gardens. But  outside this West Bank settlement's perimeter fence sits the tiny Bedouin  community of Umm Al Kher, whose residents are desperate for water.

Here in the South Hebron Hills, there has been scarce rainfall for many  months. Grey rock and dry, rugged earth spread off in every direction. But  locals who met observers from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in  Palestine and Israel said the effects of the recent drought are exacerbatin g a man-made water crisis.

The community is not connected to any water supply network and the Israeli  army will not issue permits to dig wells. The community is forced to buy  tanked water from Mekorot, the Israeli national water company, which  charges 5 shekels (around $1.30) per cubic meter. That cost prohibits the  shepherds of Umm Al Kher from irrigating crops. Umm Al Kher's only other  water supply is a pipe no bigger than a garden hose that trails across  from the pump in the settlement.

"Sometimes they turn the water off for days at a time," one resident of  Umm Al Kher told Miranda, an Ecumenical Accompanier from Britain. "We have  enough water for drinking and washing but no water for agriculture."

Ecumenical Accompaniers, who are sent by the World Council of Churches to  provide protective presence and human rights monitoring throughout the  West Bank, regularly visit the villages of the South Hebron hills. These  isolated communities struggle with the combined challenges of land  confiscation and violence by Israeli settlers on the one hand and movement  and building restrictions imposed by the Israeli military on the other.

Amnesty International recently completed an investigation into Israel's  water policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It revealed a host  of measures that prevent Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza  from obtaining adequate water. Demolitions of storage facilities and  denial of access to aquifers, along with bans on digging wells, mean that  up to 200,000 Palestinians in rural communities have no access to running  water at all.

Israeli settlers, meanwhile, face no such challenges. With their intensive  irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools, they consume on average  around 300 litres each per day. Average Palestinian consumption is around  a quarter of that, and well short of the 100 litres minimum recommended by  the World Health Organization. In some cases Palestinians survive on as  little as 20 litres a day, usually brought in by tanker. For communities  that rely on agriculture for a living, the lack of water is critical.

>No water for farms, no passage for shepherds

These problems are exacerbating the impact of a long-running drought.  Bedouins coping with dry spells in the past would have moved around in  search of good pasture. But these days, much of the best grazing land is  off limits, confiscated by the Israeli settlements that are spreading  inexorably across the landscape.

Palestinian shepherds are tied down by movement restrictions imposed by  the Israeli army and the threat of violence from Israeli settlers which  bars them from grazing in certain areas. Armed youths from the settlement  regularly threaten the village itself. Recently, they broke through the  barrier fence to steal the Bedouins' few scrawny chickens. There is also  frequent abuse and stone throwing.

Salim, a shepherd from Umm Al Kher, says that complaining about water  problems ignores the root cause. In order to improve the water situation,  Umm Al Kher needs to build pipes, but the village is in an area where the  Israeli authorities refuse to grant building permits to Palestinians.

As recently as October, the Israeli authorities told international  non-governmental development organizations that they are breaking the law  if they build in the village. The Oslo Accords of 1994 placed the village  in "Area C," meaning it is under full Israeli military and civilian  control. The Israeli authorities do not grant permits to Palestinians in  Area C, so although the residents have papers proving they own the land,  they cannot build on it.

The frustration this creates is palpable within the village. The residents  live underneath electricity wires that run from the settlement to a nearby  chicken factory also belonging to the settlers. But Umm Al Kher's  residents are not connected to the electricity network. And even though  they have papers proving they own this patch of land, every structure the  Bedouins have built here since 1967 has a demolition order hanging over  it, including the tents. Several buildings have already been destroyed -  including a toilet block.

Eid, the son of a village elder, was defiant. "Every time they destroy our  buildings, we will build them again. This is our land," he said.

His determination does not hide the fact that Umm Al Kher is in a  precarious spot. Winter rains may make these hills green pastures for a  few months, but the long term future of Bedouin communities like Umm Al  Kher hangs in the balance.

>[830 words]

(*) Miranda and Paul are members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme  in Palestine and Israel.

Free high resolution photo available for downloading at:
http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/2009/dec/eappi_karm el.jpg

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel
http://www.eappi.org

Sign up to instant updates from EAPPI at http://www.twitter.com/eappi

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Churches in the Middle East: solidarity and witness for peace
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3113

>WCC member churches in Palestine and Israel:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4746

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel(EAPPI) was  launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers monitor and report  violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, support  acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim  Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offer protection through  non-violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy and stand in  solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the  occupation. The programme is coordinated by the World Council of Churches  (WCC).

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy.  This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the  author.

Additional information: Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363  media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.